Anti-racism concert draws stars

Hard-Fi's Richard Archer was among the acts playing

Thousands of fans have seen The Good, The Bad and The Queen, Hard-Fi and Jay Sean headline a free anti-racism concert in east London.

The Love Music Hate Racism Carnival in Victoria Park marked 30 years since the original Rock Against Racism show, with The Clash and The Tom Robinson Band.

Morrissey stepped in on Friday to help fund the festival after one of its major sponsors pulled out.

He hailed the event's "important, anti-racist, message".

The former Smiths singer made a personal donation and his management, promoters and booking agency have chipped in to help make up the shortfall.

Thousands attended the original 1978 show, also in Victoria Park

'Colour blind'

R&B singer Jay Sean, who - like the other acts - appeared for free, said before the show: "Gigs like this allow us to put all that to the side and say we're gonna do something just because we believe in the cause."

Babyshambles were due to play until frontman Pete Doherty was jailed earlier this month. Bassist Drew McConnell's side project, Helsinki, appeared instead.

Organisers were hoping 100,000 people would attend the show.

"I think every survey shows that young kids are much more colour blind than older people, and that's sign of multi-racial Britain - but we should be clear, London's not one uniform city," organiser Martin Smith told BBC London.

"In outer London, places like Barking and Dagenham, we do have real problems.

"There are 350 languages spoken in the city. It's incredibly cosmopolitan compared to when I was a kid. But at the same time there's still massive pockets of racism."